GRAND FORKS – The dedication of the nation’s military service members was recognized and lauded during the Veterans Day Ceremony on Monday, Nov. 11, at the Gorecki Alumni Center on the UND campus.
The ceremony, which was held to honor those who have served the nation in war and peacetime, was organized by UND, the UND ROTC program, and the UND Alumni Association and Foundation.
Opening the program, Graham Kitchin, a UND freshman from Ridgefield, Connecticut, led the audience in singing the national anthem. Majoring in aviation, Kitchin plans to pursue a career as a pilot with the U.S. Army – something he has wanted to do all his life, he said.
Members of the American Legion Post 6 and VFW Post 1874, and all other veterans in attendance, were recognized during the ceremony.
John Novack, a senior from Eagan, Minnesota, served as master of ceremonies.
“Every day should be Veterans Day,” he told the audience, because threats to our country are ever-present.
“There is always a reason to pay our respects to the men and women of the United States who have put their lives on the line to preserve our freedoms,” he said. “There is no way to repay those who made the ultimate sacrifice other than to remember them, respect them, and honor what they stood for and have done for us.”
About one in seven UND students is a veteran, in active duty or is the spouse of a military service member, Novack said.
UND has been recognized several times for its “positive attitude towards the military,” and for creating a welcoming and supportive community for veterans, he said.
After graduation, Novack, who is majoring in pre-law, is planning to attend law school and spend the rest of his career in the U.S. Army, he said.
Speakers at Monday’s event stressed the importance of honoring all of this country’s veterans and remembering those service members who did not come home.
“It’s important, in our busy lives, to pause and reflect” on the freedoms that Americans enjoy – and often take for granted, said Commander Michael Brown of the local American Legion Post 6. The retired physician is a former Grand Forks mayor who served in the U.S. Air Force.
“Freedom is not free,” Brown said, noting that these words are etched into the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
American should never forget, “it is the veteran, not the preacher, who gave us freedom of religion,” said Brown, citing an inscription on the National D-Day Memorial. “It is the veteran, not the reporter, who gave us freedom of the press. It is the veteran, not the poet, who gave us freedom of speech. It is the veteran, not the protester, who gave us freedom to assemble. It is the veteran, not the lawyer, who gave us the right to a fair trial. It is the veteran, not the politician, who gave us the right to vote.”
Eric Hylden/Obituary
In other remarks, UND Alumni Association and Foundation CEO DeAnna Carlson Zink recounted the contributions of former UND President Thomas Clifford and current UND President Andrew Armacost, both decorated military veterans.
“The spirit of service, dedication and sacrifice is woven into the very fabric of our institution,” Zink said. At UND, “the legacy of service is not just a matter of history, it is a living tradition.”
Robert Kraus, UND School of Aerospace dean, cited the responsibility that every American carries to remember the veterans who placed love of country “above life itself.”
Forty years ago, 18% of the country’s population were veterans, Kraus said, noting that the current figure is 6%, and every year, the nation loses more of its veterans. This year, that loss included Lou Conter, the last survivor of the USS Arizona, which was struck in a Japanese air strike Dec. 7, 1941 in Pearl Harbor. Conter, who died in April at age 102, served as an advisor to presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson.
Kraus also recounted the history of Veterans Day – formerly known as Armistice Day – beginning with the first ceremony inside a private railway car in a small community north of Paris on Nov. 11, 1918, that marked the end of “the conflict without precedence,” he said.
This four-year war was referred to by some as “The War to End All Wars,” before the onset of World War II, which “was even deadlier than the first.”
Near the conclusion of the ceremony, bugler Sandra Iverson, of rural Grand Forks, played taps, a hallowed tradition of the U.S. military.